Motivational Factors Affecting Sports Consumption Behavior of K-league and J-league Spectators

Abstract

The question of what factors affect spectators' c o n s u m p t i o n b e h a v i o r ( s u c h a s a t t e n d a n c e frequency, future attendance, and future merchandise consumption) is an important issue for spectator sports marketers, because the revenue related to game attendance is an important income source for professional sports. If factors affecting spectator consumption behavior are clarifi ed, sports marketers will be able to more effi ciently build marketing strategies for their target market.Previous studies have examined many of the internal and external factors affecting spectators' consumer behavior. These factors could be classifi ed according to the following fi ve perspectives: (a) sports game attractiveness factors such as league standing, record-breaking, team quality, and star players (e.g., Greenstein & Marcum, 1981;Rivers & Deschriver, 2002;Schofi eld, 1983;Zhang, Pease, Smith, Lee, Lam, & Jambor, 1997), (b) environmental factors such as stadium facilities, convenience of schedule, weather (e.g., Greenwell, Fink, & Pastore, 2002a;Tomlinson, Buttle, & Moores, 1995;Trail, Anderson, & Fink, 2002;Westerbeek, 2000), (c) emotional or internal factors such as team identifi cation and motivational factors (e.g., Fink, Trail, & Anderson, 2002a;Funk, James, Gladden, 2002;Funk, Mahony, Nakazawa, & Hirakawa, 2000;Hong, McDonald, Yoon, & Fujimoto, 2005; Laugh & Kim, 2004; Mahony, Nakazawa, Funk, Mahony, & Ridinger, 2002;Matsuoka, Chelladurai, & Harada, 2003;McDonald, Milne, & Hong, 2002;Robinson & Trail, 2005) The purpose of this study was to examine motivational factors affecting consumption behavior of K-league and J-league spectators, and their predictability to explain it. We found that 10 motivational factors signifi cantly, but not suffi ciently explained the current attendance frequency of the K-league spectators, whereas these factors well predicted their future consumption behavior. It was considered that there is great potential in the K-league spectator market. The results of the J-league spectators indicated that team identifi cation and vicarious achievement were strong predictors to explain the variance in the game attendance frequency of the J-league spectators, and these results were consistent with the results of Mahony, et al., (2002). However, we found a new predictor (social interaction) to explain this variance. Also, we found that escape was a new positive predictor to explain the intention to attend future games of the K-league and J-league spectators, and escape, player, and team identifi cation were related to the future merchandise consumption of both the K-league and J-league spectators. However, previous research about the relationship between motivation and consumption behavior has been limited in the fi eld of sports marketing in South Korea and Japan. Most of the reports have focused on factors external to the spectator such as physical facility, or on demographic variables such as gender and age (i.e., Kim, Ha, & Kim, 2002;Lee, 2001;Lim & Kim, 2004;Nakazawa, Hirakawa...

Impact of Constraints and Behavioral Motivations on Loyalty of Horse Racing Spectators

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“…The findings of this study also are in line with the findings of Won and Kitamura (2006), since the various dimensions of team or club affiliation (including coach, special sport, and sports levels) predict a significant variance of spectators' presence and play an important role in the satisfaction of the spectators and the behavior of the spectator. Won and Kitamura (2006) categorized the factors affecting the spectators' presence and considered recognition with the team as a motivational factor for the spectators. Correia and Esteves (2007), Robinson and Trail (2005), Lough and Kim (2004), Won and Kitamura (2007), Fink et al (2002), andHong (2005) also emphasized the role of supporting the team for the motivation of the spectators.…”

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“…Hence, understanding small-scale sport event tourists' behavior is vital to the sport industry management and marketers who want to develop a fan base in order to maintain or increase their share of the sports market (Bowdin et al, 2006;Mullin et al, 2000). Therefore, researchers have paid more attention to the study of behavioral differences in male and female sport fans (e.g., Dietz-Uhler et al, 2000;James and Ridinger, 2002;Wann et al, 2001;Won and Kitamura, 2006). However, less attention has been paid to comparing male and female sport fans' attitudes and behaviors with respect to their attending sport events (Anderson et al, 2007) and their high-level involvement with specific teams (James and Ridinger, 2002).…”

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“…Motivation for sport spectatorship is a very popular topic in sport marketing research. It is crucial for professional sport marketers to recognize spectators' motives, as revenue related to game attendance directly in‰uences the income of a professional sport team (Won and Kitamura, 2006). Sport fans or spectators attend to watch a stadium game for diŠerent reasons and these aspects are crucial for sport marketers to better understand customers.…”